Domain Reporter

Spot the difference: All that has really changed for Sean Combs' identity is his name, having reverted to his previous incarnation of 'Puffy Daddy' after changing to 'P. Diddy' shortly after dating actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. Photo: Getty/AP

Sean Combs, the artist formerly known as P. Diddy and one of the richest people in the music industry, is now the artist called Puff Daddy. Except according to Combs, he was always Puff Daddy.

The rapper/producer, who has an estimated net worth of more than $700 million, has called himself either P. Diddy or Diddy for the last 13 years, confirmed the return of Daddy on Twitter on Tuesday.

“For the record, I did not change my name,” the 44-year-old tweeted, “I always have been and always will be PUFF DADDY!”

The name change coincides with the release of music video Big Homie, which credits Puff Daddy (not Diddy) at the beginning. The track is from his new album MMM, which will drop later in the year.

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Combs, who once dated Jennifer Lopez, first called himself Puff Daddy in 1997. He changed his name to P. Diddy in 2001, and shortened it to Diddy in 2005.

The name change came after he was found not guilty of weapon possession charges in connection with a 1999 shooting. Combs told MTV in an interview after the trial that he wanted to change his name to put the past behind him.

“No more Puff Daddy – the first week in June, we're going to have a name-change ceremony,” he told MTV news in 2001, via the BBC. He said the name P. Diddy was suggested by his friend Notorious BIG, who was shot dead in 1997.

“I'm rocking with P. Diddy now.”

Most of his solo work as well as collaborative albums have been released under the stage name P. Diddy or Diddy. His last album release was the Diddy - Dirty Money collaboration Last Train to Paris in 2010, which received mixed success.

Last year he joked with Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show that he has definitely struggled with sticking to one stage name.

“I have a problem with that and I have admitted to it,” he told DeGeneres in October, via the Mirror. “For some reason I have been looking for meetings and there are no name-changing meetings.”

Combs told DeGeneres that Daddy is the better stage name: “Diddy's really not as fun.”

Late last year he launched a television channel, Revolt TV, which is the channel premiering his latest music video. The singer indicated to DeGeneres that a name change was in the air.

“I have been in the Puff Daddy spirit. Because I'm launching this network and I had to go back to my roots of aggression and intensity and relentlessness. And, that's Puff Daddy. That's a superhero.”

While he says he's always been called Puff Daddy, his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts still go by the moniker Diddy.